Chapter 1

KEY THEMES IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

1.1 MAJOR THEMES OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 
 ● This book approaches environmental science by addressing six interrelated themes:
1. Human Population Growth (the environmental problem),
2. Sustainability (the environmental goal),
3. The Global Perspective (many environmental problems require a global solution),
4. An Urbanizing World (most of us live and work in urban areas),
5. People and Nature (we share a common history with nature),
6. Science and Values (science provides solutions; which ones we choose are in part value
judgments).

1.2 HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH 

● Our Rapid Population Growth 
Human population density is now over 7 billion, having more than doubled over the past 50 years. ​Estimates of
the maximum sustainable population size range from 2.5 to 40 billion and vary in part because of
differences in acceptable standards for quality of life​. This history of human population has been one of
exponential growth, punctuated by regional scale fluctuations due to famine and communicable disease.
Science has done much to reduce both, and to increase the speed of population growth, particularly by
reducing infant mortality. ​However, the human population cannot grow indefinitely in violation of
fundamental laws of physics and nature. Human population is a critical aspect of many environmental
issues.
● Famine and Food Crisis 
In the mid 1970s, following a drought in the Sahel region, 500,000 Africans starved to death and millions more
were permanently affected by malnutrition.​ This region and nations in southern Africa have been similarly
affected since then by periodic drought. There appears to be a positive feedback between population, poor
farming techniques, deforestation, drought and desertification. P​oor farming techniques and deforestation
increases erosion by wind of silt and clay, leaving the heavier sand particles and reducing the capacity of
the soil to hold water leading to desertification. Political unrest exacerbates the problems.
Rising food costs contributed to emerging global food crises in the first decade of the 21st century. The rising
cost of oil used to produce food and the conversion of some corn production to biofuels are factors.

We face a dilemma of values. Science provides the means to increase agricultural production, survival, and
population growth. Yet the conservation of natural resources that are required to sustain the human
population requires that its growth be controlled.

● Human Population and the Incidence of Natural Disasters 

Growing populations have increased human density and the likelihood that a natural disaster will have high
human and property costs​. Use of marginal and high-risk land additionally increases risk. Examples include
increases in mudslides on unstable farmland, damage from floods including the risk of infectious disease,
and recent destruction due to tsunami, hurricanes, and tornadoes. 
 
● The Age of Abundance and Human Population Increase 
As long as human population increase is matched by an increase in ingenuity to resolve the resulting negative
impacts, it can be argued that the rise in human numbers is not really a problem.​ This argument, however,
assumes that the political, economic, and environmental conditions permit creativity and innovation. At
some level of population, ecosystem failure is likely to be inevitable. 
 

1.3 SUSTAINABILITY AND CARRY CAPACITY 

A sustainable human population can only be reached when the resources that support the population are used in
a sustained way. Currently, many resources are not being utilized in a sustainable manner.
● Sustainability: The Environmental Objective 
Sustainability has several meanings. S​ustainability in the ​context of a resource​ refers to a rate of harvest or
consumption that does not exceed the capacity of the resource to regenerate or to be recycled.​ In the
context of ecosystems​, sustainability is the use of an ecosystem’s resources in a way that maintains
essential ecosystem functions and properties (e.g. productivity, biodiversity).
Sustainable development is used in an ​economic context​ to refer to economic development that can be
maintained for an indefinite time without depleting the resources that support it and is socially just to all
people​. A ​sustainable global economy​ applies the same principle to the entire planet. (Consider the idea: is
the term “sustainable growth” an oxymoron?)
There are multiple attributes of a sustainable economy. Achieving a sustainable global economy requires that
we:
1. develop an effective population control strategy.
2. completely restructure our energy programs.
3. Institute economic planning, including a tax structure that will encourage population control and wise
use of resources.
4. implement social, legal, political, and educational changes that help to maintain a quality local, regional,
and global environment.
● Moving Toward Sustainability: Some Criteria 
A new paradigm to our present model for running society and creating wealth should be:
1. evolutionary in values, rather than revolutionary.
2. inclusive, not exclusive, of all people of the Earth.
3. proactive in planning for change, not reactive.
4. focused on attracting people, not attacking them.
5. assisting the disadvantaged, not taking advantage.
● The Carrying Capacity of the Earth
Carrying capacity is the maximum population size that can persist indefinitely without depleting the resources
that support it.​ Note that achieving maximum carrying capacity may not be a desirable objective for the
human population, because "quality of life may be compromised. ​ We must ask, what is the human
carrying capacity of the Earth? What are the options involving quality of life, and proper human health?
How will this be achieved: by choice and planning, or by famine, war and disease?

1.4 A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE 

● Human population size has now reached a scale where the environmental impacts are global in scale and will
require multilateral solutions. ​ One example is changes in the chemistry of Earth’s atmosphere. The
buildup of CO​2​ in the atmosphere is a global problem that crosses all international boundaries. ​The earth’s
circulatory system, its atmosphere and hydrosphere, are vulnerable. This Gaia hypothesis, developed by
James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 1970s, addresses the feedback mechanisms that operate on a
global scale to maintain the earth in a dynamic equilibrium that favors the continuity of life (not necessarily
human life). This is discussed in more detail in Chapter 3.

1.5 AN URBAN WORLD 

● Driven by technology and economics, the human population is rapidly urbanizing (see the night lights in Fig.
1.11). This presents unique environmental challenges, but also opportunities to solve environmental
problems. ​As urban areas expand, wetlands are filled in, forests cut down, and soils covered over with
pavement and buildings. ​About 75% of the population in developed nations live in urban areas, but only
40% in developing nations and by 2025 almost 2/3 of the world population, 5 billion people, will live in
cities. Most ​megacities​, urban areas with at least 10 million inhabitants, are located in developing
countries, and it is estimated that by 2015 the majority of megacities will be in Asia. ​ This movement in
population will increase the role of the urban environment, both as a habitat and for its effects on other
areas.
● Cities Can Help with Some of Our Environmental Problems 
Cities have historically been sites of concentrated environmental damage and lack of green space, but they have
become a learning tool for ecological footprint comparisons and a model for increasing the efficiency of
dealing with transportation, resources, and waste disposal. (Can you think of ways that urban and rural
areas can both be made more efficient?) 

1.6 PEOPLE AND NATURE 

● One path is to assume that environmental problems are the result of human actions and that the solution is
simply to stop these actions. In this model, humans and nature are separate. ​Another possible path is one in
which we see humans and nature as inseparable, and where the interactions are reciprocal. While the
former is historical, the value of the latter has become more recognized in recent years.

AND VALUES 
Solutions to our environmental problems require knowledge of natural science. Basically, how does nature
work? We must know enough to find solutions and also to recognize problems as problems when they
arise, and examine them using intellectual standards. Take the loss of ozone in the atmosphere: it was
recognized by scientists as a crisis in the making, the cause was identified, and a solution was found.
However, solutions must be consistent with human values and rights, and in a free society the population
and its representatives should have enough knowledge to generally understand the solutions, their costs,
benefits, and the consequences.
● Selected Intellectual Standards 
 Proper decision making using critical thinking involves intellectual rules and standards, including judging
statements by clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance, and fairness. 
 
 
 
● Learning and Discovery in Environmental Science  
Learning takes place at various levels. Educators have long utilized hierarchical classification systems such as
Bloom’s taxonomy to categorize learning into various domains, such as cognitive, affective, and
psychomotor. It​ is important in environmental science, perhaps more so than other areas of scientific
enquiry, to enable people to understand the field at higher cognitive and affective levels to fully grasp not
only the scientific, but also social and personal complexities involved.
Discovery is a key element of the scientific process. ​It order to bring about substantive contributions to
scientific inquiry, rigorous processes at several levels must be pursued with diligence and hard work​,
utilizing intellectual standards as well as constantly trying to find relationships where perhaps none had
been seen before.
 
● The Precautionary Principle  
Given the uncertainties of scientific inquiry, use of the Precautionary Principle is prudent to prevent irreversible
environmental harm. Using this model, it may be advisable to take steps to prevent potential damage even
if that damage has not be conclusively proven to be inevitable.
● Placing a Value on the Environment 
How do we place a value on the environment? ​The environmental can be viewed as having utilitarian,
ecological, aesthetic, creative, inspirational, recreational, moral, and cultural values. ​Utilitarian values, like
the value of timber and mineral wealth that can be extracted, are relatively easy to evaluate. ​Ecological
values refer to the life-support functions of ecosystems, the water quality benefits that derive from
ecosystems and so on. Moral values relate to the rights of all living things to exist, and cultural values are
the support provided by ecosystems to unique and valuable cultures (e.g. the Cajun culture).
Critical Thinking Questions

1. Assuming that an increasing human population, introduction of invasive rats, loss of trees, the resulting soil
erosion, and, later, introduced European diseases led to collapse of the society, can Easter Island be used as
a model for what could happen to Earth? Why? Why not?
The factors that led to the collapse of the Easter Islands can be used as a model to reference the possible
negative consequences on Earth due to a drastic increase of population which provokes a domino effect,
beginning with increased consumerism, higher demand for resources, depletion of resources, such as the loss of
trees, and the eventual downfall of the environment, due to soil erosion. The introduction of diseases in the
midst of overpopulation on Earth can impose a detrimental impact on the human population, as the quality of
life decreases, hence, allowing diseases to proliferate quickly and causing more deaths, ultimately.
2. People may have arrived at Easter Island 1,500 years ago or later, perhaps 800 years ago. Does the timing
make a significant difference in the story? How?
The timeframe in which the arrival to Easter Island occured makes a significant difference, however, the
degradation of the environment and the collapse of society is inevitable. In regards to technology, the 700
years difference between the proposed time period may have caused significant change since the
technology would differ substantially, therefore, influencing the process of life and their ability to survive.
The difference between technology within either time period is the rate in which the environment will
deteriorate since these individuals have a more profound understanding of harvesting resources of the
environment, and in association with the greater demands of an increasing population, the resources of the
environment will be depleted, unable to sustain the population, thus, leading to a major decrease in
population.

Study Questions

1. Support or criticize the idea that in the past few decades a convergence between energy, economics, and
environment has become increasingly more apparent.
As society progresses, humans have developed and extensive concern for the environment, therefore,
several methods of energy efficiency have been implemented into economics, to conserve the resources
within the environments which large companies rely to continue production. For example, wind turbines,
water turbines, and solar panels have been utilized to generate renewable energy without harming the
environment.

2. Compare and contrast the effects on the environment of a resident of a large city with the effects of someone
living on a farm. In what ways are the effects similar?
A major similarity among a resident living in a large city and a resident living in a farm, regarding their
effect on the environment, is that both cause pollution, in several ways. For example, in a farm, a resident
operates a tractor and several heavy machinery to maintain a field, including the pesticides that are added,
which yield a great amount of pollution. In a large city, a resident produces carbon dioxide pollution, as they
travel to work and other different places. In a large city, the effects of the environment include: carbon dioxide
pollution, waste, and water pollution, while the effects on the environment from living on a farm include, soil
pollution, water pollution, and harm towards native animals due to the pesticides. The similarity between a farm
and a large city setting, in respect to environmental effects, is that both cause climate change, deforestation, and
pollution.

3. Programs have been established to supply food from Western nations to starving people in
Africa. Some people argue that such programs, which may have short-term benefits, actually increase the threat
of starvation in the future. What are the pros and cons of international food relief programs?
 The pros of imposing international food supply to other countries is that the government aids agricultural
development within their nation and food is distributed to nations that lack a sufficient supply of food.
The cons of imposing international food supply to other countries is that the receiving nation will depend
largely on the supply of other nations, therefore, the nation will slow their progress to improve their own
supply of food. Additionally, the receiving nation will be further in debt and will have to eventually repay
the donating nation.

4. Why is there an emerging food crisis that is different from any in the past?

Currently, a food crisis has emerged that was different from the past, in reference to the 1970’s, in which a
severe drought led to the fatality of several million due to malnutrition. The effects of the drought further
decreased the production of food, as soil erosion and deforestation led to lower quality soil for the growth
of plants. The emerging food crisis differs from the previous food crisis as food prices increased drastically
due to the increasing price of oil.
5. Which of the following are global environmental problems? Why?
o Growth of the human population.
This is a significant global environmental issue since the exponential growth of population
will require the extraction of more resources from the environment and as the demand for
resources reaches beyond the rate that they can be replenished, the population will suffer
substantially.
o Furbish’s lousewort, a small flowering plant found in the state of Maine and in
NewBrunswick, Canada. It is so rare that it has been seen by few people and is considered
endangered.
The endangerment of this rare plant isn’t considered a global environmental issue because
the Furbish’s lousewort plant is vital to the ecosystem in New Brunswick, Canada, so its
extinction would influence the area in which it originates.
o The blue whale, listed as an endangered species under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection
Act.
The extinction of the blue whale within an ecosystem can be detrimental to the environment
since it will disrupt the food chain, as whales are keystone species.
A car that has air-conditioning.
A car that has air-conditioning is not a global environmental issue.
e. Seriously polluted harbors and coastlines in major ocean ports.
Severe pollution of harbors and coastlines in major ocean ports can become detrimental to the environment
since the toxicity within the marine area can cause the death of several species.

6. Construct a research plan to estimate the carrying capacity of Earth.

To estimate the carrying capacity of Earth, it would have to be guaranteed that the total population of
Earth, 7.5 billion, is able to sustain itself. According to scientists, the carrying capacity of Earth is 9 billion to
10 billion. If I wanted to determine how much of the population depends on the resources of Earth, I would use
mathematics to distinguish the total amount of individuals who rely on the environment and then I would
multiply it by the total amount of land on Earth.

7. Is it possible that sometime in the future all the land on Earth will become one big city? If not, why not? To
what extent does the answer depend on the following:
a. global environmental considerations
Despite being impossible to convert all the land on Earth into one big city, the process would require the
reconsideration of several systems within the environment which would be complex and unable to be
managed by humans. Since the entire population of Earth depends entirely on natural resources, so the
Earth would have to sustain an unobstructed environment which allows the prosperity of native organisms.
 Additionally, Earth would have to rely on renewable sources such as solar panels, water and wind turbines,
since the natural resources that provide Earth with energy would be depleted and unable to attain.
b. scientific information
The information provided from the degradation of the Easter Islands should be analyzed and applied to
the growth of cities since a population increase would impose a higher demand on natural resources originated
from the environment, so the population would continue growing until the resources are depleted, hence,
leading to instability in society and a decrease in population, in general. This information is crucial towards the
inability of the growth of one big city in Earth since the population would have to exceed the carrying capacity
within Earth to fill the city, therefore the environment wouldn’t sustain sufficient resources to sustain the
population.
c. values
If Earth would become one entire society within one city, several issues would arise within other nations in
regards to their authority in the city. These issues can infringe on the rights and freedom of an individual,
therefore, turmoil and instability would be generated and lead to its collapse.

8. Explain why knowing about both the affective and cognitive domains of learning will help motivate you to
find solutions to environmental problems.
Personally, knowing about both the affective and cognitive domains of learning will provide motivation
towards developing solutions to environmental problems because the sustainability of a flourishing
environment is essential in the life of an individual, as several types of environments provide humans with
resources that are crucial, such as the air that is generated primarily in rainforest environments, the
nutrients derived several environments, and the extraction of minerals and other metals. As a result of
recognizing the necessity of productive and healthy environments, an individual will develop an incentive
to take action and propose solutions towards issues that are detrimental to the environment.
Regarding cognitive domains of learning, the refinement of knowledge in respect to the environment will lead
to the formation of new ideas and methods to resolve complications within several different environments.
An example would be the design of new renewable sources of energy that will completely depart from
nonrenewable sources and prevent the collapse of the environment while sustaining the human population.
The affective domains of learning, concerning the emotions and attitudes a person develops towards a certain
subject, can provide a motive to contribute to the conserving of environments since strong emotions creates
a passion and devotion within an individual to strive towards accomplishing their goals, therefore, an
environmentalist will encourage others to contribute and they will pursue a solution to issues regarding
their purpose in the environment.